(JR CRIME AND JUSTICE RESEARCH

Transcription

1 If you have issues viewing or accessing this file, please contact us at NCJRS.gov. (JR CRIME AND JUSTICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROPERTY OF National Criminal Justice Re[er~nce Service (NCJRS) Box 6 Rockville,, MD s>... Community Prosecution: Community Role and Programmatic Content A Report on Community Justice Initiatives By Cheryl Irons-Guyrm Lillian Dote John S. Goldkamp Doris Weiland July 22 This document was prepared by the, under grant number 21-PP-CX-47, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

2 ID ID ID

3 Community Prosecution: Community Role and Programmatic Content CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... v I. Introduction... 1 The Community in Community Prosecution... 1 The Substance of Community Strategies: What Community Prosecution "Does" II. Community as Target Area... 5 Selecting Target Communities: Principal Criteria... 6 Drawing Boundaries... 1 Crime as a Criterion Los Angeles County, California (CLEAR) Santa Clara County, California Nassau County (Mineola), New York Hennepin County (Minneapolis), Minnesota Erie County (Buffalo), New York Mercer County (Trenton), New Jersey Westchester County (Yonkers), New York Placer County (Auburn), California Existing Community Resources Denver County (Denver), Colorado Plymouth County (Brockton), Massachusetts Jackson County (Kansas City), Missouri St. Joseph's County (South Bend), Missouri... :.. 23 Pima County (Tucson), Arizona Policing Administrative Boundaries Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Ohio Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana Sacramento County (Sacramento), California Building on Community Crime Prevention Initiatives Travis County (Austin), Texas... 3 Nassau County (Mineola), New York City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii... 3 Resource Implications Howard County (Columbia), Maryland... = Kalamazoo County (Kalamazoo), Michigan Community Willingness Los Angeles County, California, Community Prosecution Unit Brevard/Seminole County, 18 th Judicial District, Florida Kalamazoo County, Michigan Cook County (Chicago), Illinois Self-Nomination Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii i

4 IIl. IV. V. Other Considerations Interaction between Factors in Selecting a Target Area Major Need for Intervention and Strong Community Infrastructure Major Need for Intervention and Weak Community Infrastructure Minor Need for Intervention and Strong Community Infrastructure Minor Need for Intervention and Weak Community Infrastructure Starting in One Area, Expanding to Others The Community Role: Nature of the Interaction in Community Prosecution Information Exchange... 5 Plymouth County (Brockton), Massachusetts Los Angeles County, CLEAR Philadelphia County (Philadelphia), Pennsylvania Community Education Lackawanna County (Scranton), Pennsylvania Pima County (Tucson), Arizona Erie County (Buffalo), New York Travis County (Austin), Texas Referral to Services... 6 Placer County (Auburn), California Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Ohio Cooperative Efforts Oakland City Attorney, California Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Ohio Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon Santa Clara County (San Jose), California Westchester County (Yonkers), New York Problem-Solving... 7 Brevard/Seminole County, Florida Sacramento County (Sacramento), California Oakland City Attorney, California Jackson County (Kansas City), Missouri Nassau County (Mineola), New York Lackawanna County (Scranton), Pennsylvania The Substance of Community Prosecution Initiatives: What Community Prosecution "Does" Strategies Focusing on Youth Truancy/Curfew Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney, Michigan Knox County Attorney General, Tennessee Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, Ohio After-School/Summer Programs Nassau County District Attorney, New York Cook County State's Attorney (Chicago), Illinois Mediation/Diversion Programs Denver District Attorney, Colorado Santa Clara County District Attorney, California ii

5 VI. VII. VIII. Youth Engagement Programs San Diego City Attorney, California Denver District Attorney, Colorado Collaborative School Based Programs Middlesex County District Attorney, Massachusetts... 1 O Lackawanna County District Attorney, Pennsylvania... 1 O1 Howard County State's Attorney, Maryland Student Education/Information Programs San Diego City Attorney, California Cook County State's Attorney, (Chicago), Illinois Strategies Focusing on Nuisance Properties Nuisance Abatement New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney, New York Philadelphia County District Attorney, Pennsylvania Pima County Attorney's Office, Arizona Marion County Prosecutor, Indiana Plymouth County (Brockton) District Attorney, Massachusetts Nuisance Abatement Programs Involving the Community Seattle City Attorney, Washington Sacramento County District Attorney, California United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC Strategies Targeting Specific Offenses or Crime Problems Narcotics Intervention Multnomah County District Attorney (Portland), Oregon Oakland City Attorney, California Elder Abuse Placer County District Attorney, California Hate Crimes Strategy Cook County State's Attorney (Chicago), Illinois Prostitution Initiatives Marion County Prosecutor, Indiana Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Erie County District Attorney, New York San Diego City Attorney, California Gang Intervention Los Angeles County District Attorney, California Probationer/Parolee Reentry Pima County Attorney, Arizona Targeted Problem-solving Initiatives New York County District Attorney (Manhattan), New York Santa Clara County District Attorney, California Community Involvement Strategies..., Engaging the Community Denver District Attorney, Colorado Lackawanna County District Attorney, Pennsylvania Community Education and Awareness

6 Denver, Colorado Seattle City Attorney, Washington Community Services Centers Brevard/Seminole County State Attorney's Office, Florida San Diego City Attorney, California Santa Clara Mediation for Private Criminal Complaints... ~ Montgomery County, Maryland IX. Conclusion REFERENCES O iv

7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This examination of the community role and programmatic content of community prosecution in the United States was made possible by the special recognition and leadership shown by Nancy Gist, Director, and Timothy Murray, Division Director of Program Development, Bureau of Justice Assistance, United States Department of Justice. The information and analytic framework we present in this report are based on observations, interviews, and discussions with officials and key actors in prosecutor's offices across the country as well as with community members who are engaged in community prosecution. This work was made possible through the cooperation, assistance, interest and enthusiasm of quite a number of very busy people. Arizona City of Phoenix Prosecutor's Office: We are very grateful to Kerry G. Wangberg, City Prosecutor, and Aaron Carreon-Ainsa, Director of Community Prosecution Director, for their assistance. Pima County Attorney's Office: We are thankful to the Hon. Barbara LaWall, Pima County Attorney, for allowing us to speak with her staff. We greatly appreciate the assistance of Deputy County Attorney Christine Curtis, who responded enthusiastically to our requests for information. California Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office: Our thanks to the Hon. Gil Garcetti, former Los Angeles County District Attorney, for the cooperation provided by his office and the current District Attorney, the Hon. Steve Cooley for his continued assistance. We also wish to thank Michael Yglecias, Head Deputy District Attorney, Peter Shutan, Director of the CLEAR Program and Assistant District Attorney Nancy Lidamore for the time they took to answer our questions and provide information. Oakland City Attorney's Office: We greatly appreciate the kind invitation to visit the office of City Attorney John Russo. We are very grateful to Paralegal Sandra Marion for her assistance in providing us with insight into the process of starting up a community prosecution program and taking us on a tour of the pilot site in Oakland. We also wish to thank Deputy City Attorney Charles Vose for his informative presentation at the Community Prosecution Conference - 2, and for taking the time to respond to our follow-up questions, as well as facilitating our observation of the pilot site. Placer County District Attorney's Office: We thank the Hon. Bradford R. Fenocchio, Placer County District Attorney, for the cooperation provided by his office. We wish to thank Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Gazzaniga and Ken Machold, Investigator and Program Coordinator, for their cooperation in spending valuable time answering questions about the unique elder abuse target of their program, and providing written program information. V

8 Sacramento County District Attorney's Office: We are grateful to the Hon. Jan Scully, Sacramento County District Attorney, for the cooperation provided by her office. We would also like to thank Karen Maxwell, Chief of the Community Prosecution Unit, and Rita Spillane, Assistant District Attorney, Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, for providing information about their program. Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office: Our thanks to the Hon. George Kennedy, Santa Clara County District Attorney, for the gracious attention of his office. Our observation of the Santa Clara Community Prosecution sight was eye-opening. Deputy District Attorney Christopher Arriolla was very generous with his time, and provided us with an invaluable glimpse of community prosecution at work. We are very grateful to Assistant District Attorney Marc Buller for his kind invitation to observe, and the answers and information provided. We also wish to thank Assistant District Attorney Kathy Wells for her assistance. San Diego City Attorney's Office: Our thanks to Casey Gwinn, San Diego City Attorney, Joan Forsberg-Dawson, Head Deputy City Attorney, and Cal Logan, Deputy City Attorney and Family Intervention Deputy for their cooperation and assistance in providing information about San Diego's program. Colorado Denver District Attorney's Office: Our thanks to the Hon. William Ritter, Denver District Attorney, for the cooperation of his helpful staff. We appreciate the assistance of Susan Motika, Director of the Community Justice Unit, for providing written information, and taking the time to discuss the program with us. She and her staff did an admirable job of hosting APRI's Community Prosecution Workshop in April 2, providing us with an opportunity to see Denver's community justice program in action. We also wish to thank Christine Talley, Co- Chair of the Capitol Hill Community Justice Council for welcoming us to observe the council and answering our questions. Our thanks also to Erin Sullivan Lange, Community Justice Advocate; David Mrakitsch, Community Justice Coordinator; Benita Muniz, Globeville Community Justice Coordinator; Jaime Alvarez and Kim Novara, community justice and victim assistance coordinators; Margaret Escamilla, Neighborhood Justice Coordinator; Michelle Wheeler, Community Justice Advocate; and Francisco Miraval, journalist, for the time they spent in helping us to understand Denver's multi-faceted community justice program. Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office: We are grateful to the Hon. Wilma A. Lewis, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, for the assistance we received from her staff. We thank Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifford Keenan, for providing both written materials and valuable information on the U.S. Attorney's Office community prosecution program in Washington, D.C. Florida Brevard and Seminole County: We are grateful to the Hon Norman R. Wolfinger, State's Attorney for the 18th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Brevard and Seminole County, for his vi

9 cooperation and the assistance of his office and to Phil Archer, Assistant State's Attorney, for the information that he provided. Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office: Our thanks to the Hon. Barry Krischer, Palm Beach County State Attorney for the cooperation of his staff. Assistant State Attorney James Martz, volunteered considerable time answering our questions and explaining the process and policies of COMBAT and his input is much appreciated. We also wish to thank Assistant State Attorney Terrance Nolan and Lincoln J. Fry, Grants Administrator with the Office of the State's Attorney for informative discussions. Hawaii Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu: We wish to thank the Hon. Peter Carlisle, Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu. Our first contact with a community prosecution site was with Claire Merry, Criminal Justice Planner, whose enthusiasm about the project and responsiveness to follow-up calls were so helpful. We thank her for taking the time to respond to our questions in such depth. We also wish to thank Cecilia Chang, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the information she provided and Major Thomas Nitta, of the Honolulu Police Department for providing information on the role of the Honolulu police. Illinois Cook County State's Attorney: We are grateful to the Hon. Richard Devine, Cook County State's Attorney, for the courtesy of his staff. Conversations with Assistant State's Attorney Neera Walsh provided not only a wealth of information about community prosecution in Chicago today, but also insight and contacts for background research on the original project from the 197s. We are grateful for her cooperation. We are indebted also to former Cook County assistant state's attorneys, the Hon. Nancy S. Salyers and Ray Grossman, Esquire, for their time in describing what we believe to be the first community prosecution effort in the United States. Their pride and enthusiasm about their accomplishments in that project were evident and gave life to our findings. Indiana Marion County Prosecutor's Office: We are grateful to the Hon. Scott Newman, Marion County Prosecutor, for the assistance provided by his staff. We would like to extend special thanks to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Program Supervisor Diane Burleson and former Supervisor Melinda Haag for the time and information they provided. We are very grateful also to Michael Price, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney; Michelle Waymire, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Program Supervisor of the Street Level Advocacy Program, and Mark McCleese, Nuisance Abatement Coordinator, for providing information about specific aspects of Marion County's community prosecution efforts. St. Joseph's County Prosecutor's Office: We extend our thanks to the Hon. Christopher A. Toth, St. Joseph's County Prosecuting Attorney, for the cooperation we received from his office, especially Khadijah Muhammad, Co-Director of Strategic Prosecution, for taking the time vii

10 to explain the start up process of their project, and in a later conversation, the implementation of the project. We thank her also for the written information she provided. Maryland Howard County State's Attorney's Office: We wish to thank the Hon. Mama McLendon, Howard County State's Attorney, for the time she took out of her busy schedule to discuss community prosecution generally and her project specifically. Her insights were invaluable. Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office: We are grateful for the assistance and cooperation of the staff of the Hon. Douglas Gansler, Montgomery County State's Attorney. We also appreciate the assistance and cooperation of assistant state's attorneys Tom Eldridge and Thomas M. DeGonia II in providing needed information. Massachusetts Plymouth County District Attomev's Office: We appreciate the cooperation of the staff of the Hon. Michael Sullivan, Plymouth County District Attorney, in our efforts, particularly Assistant District Attorney William Asci, who responded so promptly to our calls. Middlesex County District Attorney's Office: We extend our thanks to the Hon. Martha Coakley, Middlesex County District Attorney. We greatly appreciate the help provided by Assistant District Attorney Kerry Aheam, who took the time to thoughtfully explain the structure and functioning of the distinctive program operating in her county. We are also grateful for the information provided by Robyn Pontremoli, Community-Based Justice Coordinator. Suffolk County District Attorney's Office: We would like to thank the Hon. Ralph Martin, former Suffolk County District Attorney, for the courtesy extended by his office and the support also of his successor, the Hon. Daniel F. Conley. The dedication of Deborah McDonagh, Community Relations Director for the community prosecution program in Suffolk County was evident in our discussion. We thank her for taking the time to explain. Michigan Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney's Office: We are grateful for the assistance provided by the office of the Hon. James Gregart, Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney. Senior Neighborhood Prosecutor Karen Hayter was extremely helpful and informative, both in phone conversations and in person. We are very grateful for her assistance. We also wish to thank Assistant Prosecuting Attorney David DeBack for the help that he provided. Minnesota Hennepin County Attorney's Office: We appreciate the cooperation provided by the staff of the Hon. Amy Klobuchar, Hennepin County Attorney. Assistant county attorneys Martha Holton-Dimick, Ericka Mozangue, and Terri Froehlke provided great insights into the life of a community prosecutor, and the types of issues that arise in the field. We are also grateful to viii

11 Andrew LeFevour, Assistant Senior County Attorney, and Daniel Rogan, Principal Planning Analyst for their contributions to our understanding of the planning process and community involvement. Missouri Jackson County Prosecutor's Office: We appreciate the cooperation of the office of the /-Ion. Robert Beaird, Jackson County Prosecutor. Chief Trial Assistant Kathy Finnell's knowledge about community justice and her commitment to the community were evident in our conversations. We appreciate her valuable input. New Jersey Mercer County Prosecutor's Office: We are very grateful for the assistance of the Hon. Daniel G. Giaquinto, Mercer County Prosecutor and of Administrative Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri. New York Bronx District Attorney's Office: Thanks are also due to the Hon. Robert T. Johnson, Bronx District Attorney, for the cooperation of Susan Sadd, Director of Planning and Analysis, who provided us with valuable information. Erie County District Attorney's Office: We greatly appreciate the support and cooperation of the Hon. Frank J. Clark, Erie County District Attorney, Our thanks also go to Assistant District Attorney Michael Drmacich and Jackie Andula, Public Health Nurse, Educator and Chairperson of the Prostitution Task Force with the Erie County Health Department for the information that they provided on Erie County's community prosecution efforts. Kings County District Attorney's Office: We are grateful to the Hon. Charles J. Hynes, Kings County District Attorney, for the information provided by his staff. We wish to thank Lee Hudson, Director of the Community Relations Bureau, and Deputy District Attorney Michael Vechionne, for their assistance in providing information about Kings County's program. Manhattan, New York County District Attorney's Office: Our thanks go to the Hon. Robert Morgenthau, New York County District Attorney, for the cooperation we received from his office. We would like to thank Executive District Attorney Kristine Hamann and Connie Cuchiarra, Community Affairs Department Head, for spending time in providing information about Manhattan's project. Nassau County District Attorney's Office: We are grateful to the Hon. Denis Dillon, Nassau County District Attorney, for the assistance provided by his office. We appreciate the input of Assistant District Attorney Rene Fiechter, who spent a great deal of time answering our questions, on many occasions. ix

12 Westchester County District Attorney's Office: Our thanks to the Hon. Jeanine Pirro, Westchester County District Attorney, for the courtesy of her staff. We extend our appreciation to Yolanda Robinson, Community Justice Coordinator, and Assistant District Attorn. ey Robert Maccarone, with whom we engaged in several discussions about community prosecution generally, and the planning and implementation phases of their program specifically. Their assistance was invaluable. Ohio Cuyaho~;a County Prosecutor's Office: We are very grateful for the assistance of the Hon. William D. Mason, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney and Thelma Shepherd, Executive Director of the East Cleveland Neighborhood Center, who provided us with insights into the role of the community in Cleveland's community prosecution efforts. Oregon Multnomah County District Attorney's Office: We are indebted to the Hon. Michael Schrunk, Multnomah County District Attorney, for the cooperation provided by his office, and to Senior Deputy District Attorney Wayne Pearson and Deputy District Attorney Jim Hayden for the time they took to answer our many questions about Portland's pioneering program, We also greatly appreciate the assistance of deputy district attorneys Erin Olsen, John Copic, Michael Colbach, and ChristineMascal who helped to provide more detailed information on the various strategies employed and the role of the community in Multnomah County's multi-faceted program. We are also grateful to Staff Assistant Judy Phelan for her help. Pennsylvania Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office: We are grateful to the Hon. Andrew Jarbola, Lackawanna County District Attorney, for his cooperation and to Christine Tocki- Mulvey, Grant Administrator for the Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office for the time she spent in talking with us about Scranton's community prosecution efforts. Philadelphia District Attorney's Office: We wish to thank the Hon. Lynne Abraham, Philadelphia District Attorney for the cooperation of her staff. We are grateful to George G. Mosee, Jr., Deputy District Attorney and Chief of the Narcotics Division, for inviting us into his office to learn about community prosecution in Philadelphia. Our thanks also to Ed Jaramillo, Assistant District Attorney and Chief of the Public Nuisance Task Force for his assistance. Tennessee Knox County District Attorney General's Office: We are grateful to the Hon Randy Nichols, Knox County District Attorney General, for his cooperation and to Rhonda Garren, Community Prosecution Coordinator, for the time she spent in answering our questions. x

13 Texas Travis County District Attorney's Office: We appreciate the cooperation of the office of the Hon. Ronnie Earle, Travis County District Attorney. Assistant District Attorney Meg Brooks provided us with valuable information about Community Prosecution in Austin. We are extremely grateful to Barbara Boland and Catherine Coles, pioneers in community prosecution research, for generously sharing with us their time, knowledge, insights and extensive research into community justice. We also wish to thank Cynthia Tompkins, then Project Manager and Senior Attorney at the American Prosecutors Research Institute for welcoming us to the first APRI-sponsored Community Prosecution Workshop and Michael Kuykendall, Community Prosecution Program Director, APRI, for his ongoing interest in our efforts. A number of people at the Bureau of Justice Assistance assisted our efforts. We wish to thank Brian Crane for all of the assistance he provided, particularly in the beginning stages of our efforts. Thanks also to Shannon O'Connor for the information that she provided. xi

14 @ xii

15 Community Prosecution: Community Role and Programmatic Content I. Introduction The Community in Community Prosecution Community-focused prosecution strategies have become widespread in the United States, particularly over the last ten to fifteen years. Whether preceding or following community policing historically, ~ community prosecution programs are often linked with and complement community policing and other community justice efforts, such as community courts. We have described community prosecution as "a major milestone in changing the 'culture' and role of the prosecutor through the development of partnerships and collaborative, problem-solving approaches with the community aimed at improving the quality of life and safety of citizens in neighborhoods" (Goldkamp et al., 21:ix). However, community prosecution has been explained in a number of different ways: as an "organizational response to the grassroots public safety demands of neighborhoods, as expressed in highly concrete terms by the people who live in them" (Boland 1996:35); as a "long-term, proactive partnership among the prosecutor's office, law enforcement, the community, and public and private organizations, whereby the authority of the prosecutor's office is used to solve problems, improve public safety, and enhance the quality of life in the community" (American Prosecutors Research Institute, n.d.:3); as "[a partnership].., asking how the justice system can help support community efforts rather than dictating solutions to neighborhood crime and quality of life problems" (DenverDA. org, 21); as a "grassroots approach" that uses traditional and nontraditional prosecutorial initiatives (Weinstein, 1998:19); and as an initiative in which crime prevention is added to the prosecutor's mission (Heymann & Petrie, 2:37). ' In our first report, we identified State Attorney Bernard Carey's Cook County community-oriented prosecution program of the mid-197s as the earliest prototype of the strategy (Goldkamp, Irons-Guyrm, & Weiland, 21). The expansion of such initiatives in the 199s was spearheaded by the Neighborhood DA program instituted by Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk in Portland, Oregon, in

16 In our previous report, Community Prosecution Strategies: Measuring lmpact (Goidkamp et al., 21), we discussed features of this emerging prosecutorial innovation and identified seven unifying underlying dimensions from descriptions of 36 of the first community prosecution sites. On a general level, the common ingredients shared by these programs included: 1) a specific target problem motivating the community prosecution approach; 2) a geographic area target selected for the initiative; 3) a different and central role of the community in the prosecutorial initiative; 4) certain programmatic substance making up the content of what community prosecution "does;" 5) ways in which the prosecutor's organization itself has been reshaped to promote community prosecution; 6) ways in which case processing (prosecution of cases) has been adapted to promote the aims of community prosecution; and 7) collaborations and partnerships between agencies of government and civic organizations. Although there appears to be no definitive community prosecution "model," all community prosecution programs we examined could be understood using this analytic Within criminal justice, the meaning and uses of the term "community" has a long and varied history in the United States over the last century. 2 In the first part of this report we examine the implicit role of the community in community prosecution strategies in two ways: a) how prosecutors have defined their target community geographically within their jurisdictions; and b) the nature of the interaction or relationship with community members (representatives of a targeted area) prosecutors have established. In short, we are deducing what the "community" in community prosecution means in an operational sense from where prosecutors have established community prosecution initiatives and how prosecutors have been working with community members on crime problems. Although all community prosecution programs share the basic z See Goldkamp et al., (21: 4-6). 2

17 premises that each prosecutor has selected a geographic target area within the "community" in which to operate and has engaged the community in a working relationship of some sort, how this has been accomplished in community prosecution sites has varied considerably across the United States. The Substance of Community Stratel~ies: What Community Prosecution "Does" In the last part of this report, we extend discussion of community prosecution beyond the selection of target communities and the nature of the working relationship between the prosecutor and the community, however defined, to the substance or content of the community prosecution initiatives. Thus, this report also examines what community prosecution delivers in the context of the areas targeted and the nature of the working relationships with the community established by prosecutors. The following discussions of the role of the community and the substance of community prosecution strategies are based on telephone or in-person interviews (and supporting documentation, if available) with representatives of community prosecution initiatives in 36 sites, conducted through February 22. Sites were identified and contacted using a list developed by the (CJRI) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from a variety of sources, including the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, operational community prosecution programs, and "community prosecution" keyword searches on the Internet. The resulting list of 36 sites included programs that began operation between 1985 and 2. These sites, which therefore include some well established as well as some very new community prosecution programs, were the focus of an earlier CJRI report, Community Prosecution Strategies." Measuring Impact (Goldkamp et al., 21), now being published by the Office of Justice Programs. 3

18 @ 4

19 II. Community as Target Area Prosecutors differ widely in how they have conceived of "the community" operationally in implementing their community prosecution strategies. For some prosecutors the community is made up of active or interested groups, such as residents who meet to discuss specific crime problems or business owners who are affected by levels of crime that discourage people from spending time in a downtown business district. For others the relevant "community" can refer to users of a service, such as riders of a public transit system, or even to a specific, targeted criminal population, such as juveniles or prostitutes. In many sites, target communities are defined using a mix of attributes. An additional layer of complexity is introduced in jurisdictions that have delineated multiple target communities using different criteria. Jurisdictions with multiple community prosecution sites may target business districts, residential neighborhoods, or even a major transportation hub. Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon, has targeted all of these. In addition to working with several business and residential neighborhoods, community prosecutors have formed a collaborative partnership with Tri-Met, the local public transportation system. In this instance, a target community has been defined in a multifaceted way as a combination of the Tri-Met organization itself, Tri-Met employees (e.g., train operators, supervisors, and bus drivers), persons who live around Tri-Met stations, commuters who use Tri-Met, and citizens who have businesses near Tri-Met property. Also, because Tri-Met spans several counties, the Tri-Met "community" is not necessarily restricted to Multnomah County residents. 3 As diverse as target communities are in community prosecution sites, they share the fact that they have been defined in spatial terms or by some geographic referent, whether in terms of 3 This raises issues about cross-designating attorneys. See Arriola (21) for discussion. 5

20 a residential neighborhood, business/commercial district, police precinct, zip code, census zone, or public transit routes. Selecting Target Communities: Principal Criteria In the sites examined thus far, the original impetus for a community prosecution initiative has come from both the prosecutor and the community itself. Although requests from the community for development of community prosecution have been rare, they have played an important part in the brief history of the movement, in part because of the pivotal role of the community-instigated community prosecution effort in Multnomah County, where business owners requested special assistance from the district attorney in addressing crime problems adverse to the success of a new shopping district. In Honolulu, the Chinatown business association approached the district attorney for assistance in dealing with drug crimes. In the great majority of sites, however, the prosecutor, often in collaboration with other justice agencies and government partners, has made the decision to undertake a community prosecution initiative O and has taken the responsibility for determining the area to be targeted. 4 The criteria for deciding upon the location to be targeted by community prosecution may be identified by the prosecutor alone or in collaboration with other agencies in a planned process. Officials in community prosecution sites have suggested that a number of factors--including crime levels and type, community infrastructure, existing collaborations, and community initiatives dealing with crime problems--may play a primary role in selecting target locations. Other considerations, such as concerns for efficient use of resources, community willingness to 4 It has not been unusual for other community areas to nominate themselves once the initial community prosecution site began operation. In this way, in such locations as Portland and Denver, additional targeted areas were added to an emerging citywide approach. 6